


In Every Universe It's You

by maplesyrups



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grey's Anatomy, F/M, Tumblr Prompts, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-14 05:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13000839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplesyrups/pseuds/maplesyrups
Summary: A collection of unrelated prompts/requests about Ellie and Nick.





	1. The One With The High School Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a post made on tumblr  
> torresandbishop: Just putting this out there…someone should write an Ellick fic where Bishop decides to go to one of her high school reunions and Nick insists on going with her because she’s so nervous.

“Are you sure about this?” Eleanor Bishop asked Nick Torres for what felt like the billionth time.

“Seriously, you’re asking me now? as we’re outside the building.” Nick chuckled as he looked at the old brick high school. When he turned back towards his partner, he noticed the worry etched on her face. “Hey, look I made a promise to you back in DC that I would go to your reunion with you and I’m not one to break my promises.” He told her softly so that she would be the only person to hear. “Besides, when would I ever turn down free food?”

A hint of a smile appeared on her face.

“You turned down free food when you didn’t attend my paint party?” Ellie playfully replied.

“Wait, that actually happened? Here I thought it was just a ruse to have me take off my shirt.”

“God, you’re the worst! Why did I let you come to this.” She asked with a full on smile gracing her red stained lips.

“Because you find me irresistible, and wanted an excuse to see more of me. Even if a shirt is required.”

“More like you forced your way into the car when I started driving here,” Eleanor muttered to herself as the pair climbed up the concrete steps. In a way she wasn’t wrong, Nick had to force his way onto the trip. It’s not like he wanted to go, he had to go. He wasn’t sure what it was, maybe a little bit of a hero complex? But he had this compulsory need to go with her.

It didn’t really help that the day her invitation to her 15th-year high school reunion came in she looked like a kicked puppy. He hated that look on anyone, seeing it on his partner? It was a thousand times worse. It would rival how bad he would feel if he saw an actually kicked puppy on the side of the road.

Although he was proud of her for deciding to actually show up to this reunion (unlike her tenth-year reunion), he could still see the apprehension she had towards the event. And thus that is why Nick Torres is over 1,300 miles away from Washington DC, in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, Oklahoma.

“Is there any lipstick on my teeth?” She asked before they entered the school.

“No, I promise.” He affirmed to her as he averted his eyes onto her mouth for probably the twentieth time in last five minutes. It’s not his fault she looks good in red lipstick - plus she asked him to do it this time.

As he opened the doors and let her walk through first, he noticed her hands brush down her dress as if she were trying to smooth an invisible wrinkle.

“Stop fidgeting your hands. You look great, B.” He told her as he admired her tight knee length grey dress. It had this rushing effect on the front that ended up in a knot on her left side just above her hip, it complemented and accentuated her curves. (Nick watched a lot of Say Yes to The Dress with his niece while babysitting, he knows dress terminology well.)

Entering the high school felt like he was walking into the school’s football hall of fame. Everywhere were pictures of players, coaches and championship awards.

Following Ellie and the noise from the music being played, it was not hard to find the gymnasium. As soon as they walked through the doors they were greeted by a very excited looking blonde.

“Hello! Welcome to the Jefferson High, class of 2002 reunion.” Her voice was so chipper and annoying, Nick felt like he was five years old and this woman was the adult talking to him with a tone that said ‘you won’t understand what’s actually going on because you’re just a kid.’ “Please sign in here.” The high energy probably-wishes-she-could-be-Abby-personality-wise woman requested as she handed them a clipboard with a sign in sheet.

Ellie took it writing “Eleanor Bishop +1” and gave it back to the woman.

“Alright, here’s your name tag Scarecrow, have a good night.”

Nick felt Eleanor stiffen as she was called her high school nickname (if you could really call it that).

The perky blonde wore the same happy expression she did when they first entered. It made Nick want to punch it right off her face, but since he was there to be supportive and not make a scene he decided not to.

Once they were a far enough distance away that they couldn’t be heard Nick spoke: “God, that woman was a bitch. And why was she so perky? Like ‘I might be a deranged serial killer perky.’” His terrible intimidation of her, brought a small smile to Eleanor’s lips, although it didn’t appear in her eyes this time. It reiterated to him how much that name hurt her.

“Because she was the captain of the cheerleading team, and wanted to prove every stereotype made in films from the ‘90s about cheerleaders true. Want to get a drink?” She asked quickly changing the topic. As an investigator, Nick was taught to pounce on this type of stuff, it’s how they got confessions. If everyone is as annoying as the first woman they met though, Nick was definitely going to need a lot of alcohol.

Five shots of tequila later is when they were approached by someone else at the function. It was a brunette woman with a tall neck and sharp cheekbones accompanied by a man who looked like every generic white guy Nick has ever seen.

“Ellie Bishop, is that you? I don’t know if you remember us, but I’m Katherine and this is my husband, Mark.”

“I remember you guys.”

“I haven’t seen you in so long! Last time I heard you were in town was because your husband cheated on you.” This woman’s bluntness and Nicks own shock at what she said is what caused him to spit out his drink on the makeshift bar. He knew Eleanor was divorced, but the reasons behind it were never discussed with him  


“Are you with anyone now?” Mark added

“She’s with me, hi I’m the boyfriend, Nick Torres.” He told the noisy couple as he turned away from the bar to face them. As soon as the words left his mouth he realized what he said.

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Katherine MacPherson, and this is my husband Mark.” Katherine greeted him as she shoved her hand towards him to shake.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Nick smiled showing all his charm. If he’s going to lie he’s going to do it well.

“So how did you Ellie meet someone like you.” Katherine smiled gazing him up and down as if her husband wasn’t right in front of them.

“Through work, we are federal agents together. It was my first day officially at my new job, and she was demonstrating how to work this projector for when we are going through a case. One of the last things she showed me was the button to press that was full of random pictures to distract our boss, and the smile she got from how pleased she was with that - it just took my breath away you know? I was a total goner at that point.” He told her averting his eyes to Ellie who’s cheeks matched the shade of her lipstick at this point.

“So you’ve been dating ever since?” Mark asked, sounding as if he was eating up all this romantic crap.

“Nah, I only got the nerve to ask her out a couple of months ago,” Nick replied still not shifting his eyes from Eleanor.

“Well it was nice to see you, we’re going to mingle a bit more,” Katherine interjected sounding a lot harsher than before.

“Alright. Nice meeting you, Karen.” Nick said.

“It’s Katherine!” She called out as she walked away from the pair.

“Okay, Kailee.”

“Wow. You’re really good at pretending to be in love.” Ellie whispered into his ear.

“C’mon, I’m a trained, undercover agent. I’m a professional at this kind of stuff.” He winked at her.

“So it was all fake?” She asked, face turning into a frown as she looked down at her lap. The appearance of the kicked puppy look came back.

“Not all of it, I thought you were really cute when you showed me how the projector worked.” He spat out before he could even process what he was saying.  
His response caused her to look up at him again.

He’s not sure who made the move first but eventually, they’re kissing.

Ellie’s hands clutch onto his shirt as if they’re there for balance, and he wraps his arms around her waist. The kiss is soft and warm and just as quickly as it starts, she ends it. She turns her face to the side as if she’s just now remembering they’re in public, and the blush she had before reappeared.

“Want to get out of here?” Nick asks.

She gives a wordless nod, and then it feels like they move at the speed of light to exit the school.

“Wait!” She commands just before they get to the parking lot, causing Nick to turn around and face her. “You didn’t get to eat any of the free food.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be eating something else tonight.” Nick laughed as they made their way to the car.


	2. The One With the Bomb (aka the Grey's Anatomy au)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by anonymous: This week was the 300th episode of Grey's Anatomy and the episode had me feeling really nostalgic. Can you write an ellick story where they're investigating a crime and it turns out the victim has a bomb in his chest and Ellie ends up holding onto it like Meredith did in season 2? Thank you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was quite a challenge for me to write this prompt because a) it is one of my favourite episode arks ever and b) trying to incorporate how Ellie would plausibly get into this situation felt kind of impossible for a while.
> 
> I recycled a lot of the lines from the actual Grey's Anatomy episodes and I decided to place this in season 14 of NCIS, because I thought Alex (Quinn not Karev, lol) worked well in this story.
> 
> The truth is I will likely never be happy with this one, but I received this request on tumblr over a month ago and figured I should put something out.
> 
> I hope you guys like it, and thanks to torresandbishop and onekisstotakewithme for betaing this.

A person never knows that a day will be the most important event in their life until they’re actually living it. Sure there are monumental milestones: high school graduation, wedding day, or the birth of your child. But the experiences that define you as a person and change everything about you, those are things you can’t predict nor expect.

That’s what Eleanor Bishop thought until it was her day. Growing up on a farm in Oklahoma, Eleanor was always an early riser that could easily get out of bed. For some reason today she couldn’t.

She felt as if she was heavy and dense unable to move. If she leaves her cocoon of cotton bedding she would be in imminent danger - like she will die today.

As a federal agent not only working in the States but also the Middle East, Eleanor was no stranger to the feeling of death; it’s just never greeted her so early in the morning - especially in her home, It terrified her.

Eleanor laid there for an unknown amount of time. It could’ve been minutes or it could’ve been hours. She felt like an incomplete portion of a person that was about to meet their demise. Eventually, her 7 AM alarm went off alerting her that she had to get out of bed, and now no longer had enough time to shower.

Although this feeling of death terrified her, the notion of not going to work and having to deal with an angry Leroy Jethro Gibbs scared her more.  
Forcing herself out of bed, Eleanor lazily dressed and in less than 20 minutes later, she was out the door enroute to a coffee shop two blocks from the navy yard.

As always, the shop was filled to the brim with bureaucrats and business people on their way to work. The one person Ellie did not expect to see in the cramped non-franchised shop was Jake, her ex-husband.

It was just her luck this would happen. The day she feels like the worlds going to end, he appears again (perhaps he’s a horseman of the apocalypse). Although seeing him here does make her wish that feeling of death would swallow her up and just kill her here. At least then she could avoid any conversations with him.

If she hadn’t already paid for her $5.00 coffee she likely would’ve left, but her need for caffeine forced her to stay.

“I got a mocha latte with coconut milk for Ellie.” The barista called out. Her name and the drink she always orders is what caused Jake to look up from his illuminated phone screen.

The last time they saw one another was when the divorce papers were signed. He pretty much looked the same, just with a couple of more wrinkles on his face; some were on his forehead, which Eleanor assumed were due to stress, but the addition of crows feet near his eyes and deeper smile lines by his mouth made her think he was happier. Or at least he appeared to be.

“El,” he started, shock prevalent on his face as his eyes widen and mouth gaped openly. At least she wasn't the only one unprepared for this encounter.

“Hi, Jake.” She breathed out, unsure of what else to say.

“How are you?” He asked, quickly as he shifted his facial expression to one of comfort, even though Ellie knew he was anything but comfortable. It was one of the things she always admired about him at work. His ability to hide his own emotions and only exert those which his clients needed to see. Before she envied it, now she loathes it.

“I’m good.” She said immediately, waiting a couple before she realized she should add: “How are you?” she cringed at herself, is there any way this could be more awkward? If only there was a “How to Have a Conversation With Your Cheating Ex-Husband When You Run Into Each Other in Public” book. 

“I’m good, I-”

“Jake, I got our coffees. And before you start to worry, mines a decaf.” A very pregnant woman approached them.

Update: it could get (and it did get) more awkward.

It took Eleanor a second to realize this was the same woman whom Jake cheated on her with. She rubs her protruding stomach with her left hand, obviously to show off her giant engagement ring and wedding band.

“Congratulations. I should get going, you know, duty calls.” She awkwardly said as she rushed past him and out the door. She didn’t hate him and a part of her was happy for him. That being said she still didn’t forgive him for cheating, plus his new life and family rehashed old wounds.  
Yes, they were not happy with each other, but his infidelity fucked with her head. Whenever she’s on a date now, she has trouble trusting whomever she’s with.

-

After going through security to enter the base, Eleanor quickly parked her car and made her way to the NCIS building. Hitting the button for the elevator, she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“You alright?” Nick Torres, the newest member of ‘Team Gibbs,’ asked. His question startled her out of her thoughts.

“I have a feeling.” She admitted voice low not actually wanting to talk about it with someone else.

“I get those.” He told her with a voice as quiet as hers.

“Yeah?” Eleanor questioned, as she turned to her side so she could face him.

“Yeah.” He confirmed.

“And?” She asked desperately needing to know.

“If you wait long enough, it passes.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He told her lightly and gave her a soft smile. Eleanor waited for him to crack a joke or poke fun at her, but it never came. His kindness and maturity towards her amplified the weirdness of the day. She couldn’t deny, even though his actions were very out of behaviour for him, they were oddly comforting.

She didn’t know a lot about Nick. He was a lone wolf and mainly keeps to himself. Then again after working eight years in undercover missions, she’s sure everyone would be. The parts she did know about Nick's past is what made her trust what he said. For the past eight years, he immersed himself in several criminal businesses and affiliations. Other than a handler he was always on his own in dangerous situations. If he says it’ll pass she trusts him.

Eleanor gently returned the smile he gave her before the elevator door opened. Standing at the doors was the rest of their teammates: Gibbs, Timothy McGee, and Alex Quinn.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked their boss.

“Fight between two marines and one of their husbands,” Gibbs said. “Alex and Bishop, one of the marines is currently being driven to the hospital with a chest injury. You guys meet them there. McGee and Torres, we’re off to the crime scene to deal with the other two.”  


Once they made it to the ground floor, the team broke up and went off to their different destinations. Eleanor let Alex drive without any protests. The feeling were still present and she didn’t trust herself to operate any machinery right now.

“What’s up with you?” Alex asked, turning her head towards Ellie as she kept her left hand on 9 o’clock position of the steering wheel.

“What do you mean?” Eleanor replied hoping she sounded as cool and calm as she tried to be.

“You’re acting weird. This entire car ride has been silent, which is honestly the longest amount of time I have ever heard you not say anything. So, what’s going on with you?”

“I have a feeling.” She said, retelling exactly what she told Torres. Eleanor did not miss the confused face Alex made afterwards.

“You have… a feeling?” Alex repeated, as if repeating sentence herself would help with her comprehension of what was said.

“Yes.”

“What type of feeling?”

“Like I might die.”

“Today, Tomorrow, in 50 years? ‘Cause we’re all going to die eventually.” Alex told her with a little chuckle as if she was trying to keep the mood light.

“I - I don't know. I ran into my ex-husband today which was bad enough. Then add into the equation his former mistress turned wife is very pregnant and looks like she's about to pop. She has my life.” Eleanor groaned, causing another look of confusion to appear on Alex's face. “Okay, so I don't want that life with Jake, but what if that was my one shot at it and I'll never find my true love?

“Plus, my conditioner stopped working and I think I have brittle bones. I just… I just need a sign that things will turn around. I need some hope. And in the absence of hope, I'm going to bury myself in my work, and try to ignore the feeling that I might die today.”

“I guess it's a good thing we arrived at the hospital.” Alex stated leaving the vehicle as quickly as possible, leaving Ellie behind.  
Taking one look in the rear view mirror Ellie adjusted her black ball cap embroidered with the NCIS logo - eternally grateful it helped cover her greasy, unshowered blonde hair - before she made her way out the car and followed Quinn inside.

This hospital looked like every other hospital Eleanor had ever stepped foot into. There was a guard that sat at the security station by the entrance, a queue of people waited to see the nurse at triage so they could state why they're there, and the entire hospital was decorated in light creams and pale colours. They're meant to give the illusion that the hospital is light and airy, but in Eleanor's opinion, it made the place seem sterile and lacking in actual life. (But Ellie's been a little pessimistic the last bit, so go with their intended purpose).

Alex walked toward Eleanor with a look that could be perceived as shocked or amused - she wasn't sure.

“I just finished talking to the head nurse, and you'll never believe it: a paramedic has her hand stuck in Corporal Collins chest! They're going straight into surgery.”

“Seriously? Okay, I'll call Gibbs and relay the information.” Ellie said as she quickly dialled Gibbs’ number into her cell.  
After two rings he picked up.

“Bishop?”

“Hi, Boss. I'm calling to let you know they just took Corporal Collins into surgery. And for some reason, an EMTs hand is stuck in his chest cavity.”

“Alright, we just arrived on scene. You're at Bethesda, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Since we don't know what happened I need you to get into that surgery in case there's any evidence. I don't want a repeat of that metro case.” Gibbs ordered, referring to the hospital's mistake the earlier this year. One of the staffers at the hospital lost a bullet that was pulled out of Metro’s victim in surgery. It was found eventually, but due to the gap of missing time in the chain of evidence, the bullet was thrown out at trial, causing the prosecution to lose that case. Ever since then, law enforcement had always tries to avoid this place like the plague. Unfortunately for NCIS, this was the closest hospital to the victim’s home. And the victim’s proximity takes precedence over law enforcement preference in hospitals.

“I'll try and get in.” She told him, as she knew it would likely be impossible to force her way into a surgery. What would she be able to say without completely offending the hospital staff? ‘Hey, uh, remember that time you lost some evidence? And now every cop hates you and every fed doesn't trust you? Well, my boss is one of those Feds so he wants me inside of your operating room.’

“Don't try, just do- uh crap!” Gibbs said followed by a large commotion and yelling on his side of the call, “I got to go - get into that surgery.” Gibbs barked before he abruptly hung up the phone.

Fortunately for Eleanor, it did not take a lot for her to get into the OR. The lead surgeon, Dr Cyril Taft was the same doctor who operated on Gibbs’ knee after he was shot, and was one of Gibbs closest friends- insofar as he didn’t really have close friends.

“Thank you for letting me in your OR, Dr Taft.” Eleanor gratefully told the surgeon as she entered the operating room, dressed as if she were one of the other healthcare workers. She is wearing a mask and gloves, her NCIS cap traded for a scrub cap, and her clothes were replaced with scrubs and a surgical gown over top. She felt as if she belonged on a TV medical drama. Push one of epi Eleanor thought to herself.

“Of course. I’m happy to help NCIS any way I can.”

“Last I heard you were travelling the world with the wife. When did you get back to town?” She asked noticing the EMT. The surgical team was still prepping her, placing her into a surgical gown as well. The first thing that popped out about her was how young she appeared, like can’t even legally buy a drink young. With her hair up and out of her face, Ellie could look straight at it. The EMTs youthfulness: her face was wrinkle free as if she's never had a worry in her life.

“We did that for about 8 months and then started to miss home.” The bald surgeon told Eleanor before turning toward the EMT, “Now, miss?”

“Hannah Warren.”

“Alright, Miss Warren, would you mind telling me why you have your hand in my patient?”

“Just Hannah, please. I tried to tamponade the wound with gauze and pressure, but the only thing that would stop the bleeding was my hand. Anytime I try and take my hand out, he started bleeding again.”

And that's when everything started to change. The OR team finished setting up for the surgery. Dr Taft was prepped with a scalpel in his hand and less than a centimetre from the patient's chest when Alex came running in through the door.

“Can I help you? I'm about to start surgery.” Dr Taft asked. He made no effort in trying to mask how annoyed he was, or at least Ellie assumed because he was clearly irritated by the interruption.

“Dr Taft, I need you to step away from the patient.” She huffed clearly out of breath. Her face glisten with sweat and her cheeks have the slightest hint of pink covering them. “I'm serious. I need you to talk to me.”

Eleanor stood on the same side of the table as Dr Taft and Hannah. She was desperately trying to make eye contact with Alex in hopes that it could somehow explain her sudden appearance in the OR.

Dr Taft placed the scalpel down and stepped away from the patient, towards Alex. Before Eleanor could get to the two of them in their hushed conversation, Dr Taft turned towards the patient and paramedic.

“Hannah.” He addressed her in a calm and steady manner, “What do you feel inside the patient? What is your hand touching?”

“What do you mean?” Hannah asked as her dark, well-shaped eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Is your hand touching anything hard?”

“Hard?” Eleanor repeated. Out of all the questions, she expected Dr Taft to ask, this was not one of them. If anything it confused her, besides bones, why would there be anything hard in the patient? Plus, where Hannah's hand is placed there is no way she could be touching his bones. Eleanor wasn't a doctor, but she understood basic human anatomy.

“Um... I don't know.” Hannah asked, gently starting to move.

“Don't move your hand.” Dr Taft’s sharp and direct order made Hannah freeze. It was as if she just looked into Medusa’s eyes and was turned to stone.

“Just tell me… what you feel.”

“Dr Taft, what's going on?” Eleanor asked desperately trying to understand what was happening.

“Um, my fingertips are touching something… kinda hard. Yeah. Yeah, Definitely.” The young paramedic smiled as if she was a kid in class who just answered the teacher's question correctly.

“Oh my god.” The anesthesiologist blurted out which caused Hannah's smile to fall. 

“What? What wrong?” Hannah asked the question Eleanor desperately wanted to know

“Hannah, I don't want you to move - not your hand, not your body, not an inch.”

“Okay. You should know you're starting to scare me.”

“Don't be scared. Everything's going to be fine.” Dr Taft reassured Hannah.

“I'm going to call bomb squad and Gibbs to let him know,” Alex said, in a quiet tone directly to Dr Taft, but Eleanor was close enough beside the two that she knew exactly what was said.

“And find my head nurse, and let them know we have a ‘code black’... and tell them yes, I am sure of it. I need my staff to know as well,” he whispered back. 

“Alright, everyone,” Dr Taft started, his voice at full amplitude. “I need everyone other than Dr Milton to leave.”  
And just like that, the room cleared, and the only people left were the patient, Hannah, Dr Milton, Dr Taft, and Ellie. Dr Milton, the anesthesiologist, switched the patient off the ventilator to a manual ambu bag. The steady flow of oxygen was too much of a hazard with the live unexploded ammunition inside.

“What if I take my hand out really quickly?” Hannah asked, after discovering what she was touching.

“We would have to ask the bomb squad that when they arrive, but I'm guessing that would cause the ammo to shift and explode,” Ellie told her. She felt bad for being so blunt to the girl, since it was obvious how terrified she was, but she needed to understand the severity of what's going on.

“Oh,” Hannah whispered, her eyes starting to well with tears.

“Hannah.” Dr Taft started, “your hand is keeping Corporal Collins from bleeding out. You are keeping him alive.”

“Right. An-and the bomb squad is coming?”

“The bomb squad is coming.”

“Okay… okay.”

Ellie left the OR to help evacuate all the other rooms on the floor. While Ellie ran down the hallway to finish clearing out the other side of the floor, Gibbs and the bomb squad - lead by a guy named Dylan Taylor - arrived at the same time. They didn't waste time on pleasantries before getting straight to business.

“There's no telling how dangerous this is. We need more info.” Dylan said as they walked into a room with an x-ray so they could see where the bomb was situated in Corporal Collins chest.

“The longer we wait, the greater the chance that he’ll bleed out and die.” Dr Taft added before the door closed, and Ellie continued clearing the floor.

When she was done, she found Alex outside of the x-ray room.

“How are they going to remove that ammo without killing Corporal Collins and Hannah?” Eleanor questioned aloud as the two looked through the window, watching Gibbs, Dr Taft, and Dylan come up with an action plan. “Alex?” She asked while turning towards her partner to see what has her wandering off.

“Is it just me or is Hannah shaking?” Alex asked, as she looked into the OR room through the glass insert in the door.

Ellie rushed to her side to see what Alex was talking about. It was bad. Hannah was all alone, one hand inside the patient, while the other one trembled as she supplied Corporal Collins oxygen through an ambu bag.

“Is she squeezing that ambu bag by herself? Where is Dr. Milton?” Ellie sighed, still confused as to why the paramedic was all by herself. Unable to help herself, Ellie gently opened the door - as to not scare Hannah and find out what the hell was going on.

“Hannah? Where is the anesthesiologist?” Ellie asked as her and Alex slowly entered the room.

“Do you know what pink mist is? Apparently, that's what the bomb squad calls people who have been exploded. That's what Dr Milton told me before he left. He didn't want to die.”

“Hannah,” Alex called the paramedics name, trying to calm her down.

“I think I'm gonna take my hand out now,” Hannah cried.

“Hannah.” Ellie tried this time to address her, as she walked closer to the girl, “Come on it'll be okay. You can do this.”  
The paramedic didn't reply, she just shook her head from side to side. She appeared defiant and sure of her decision.

“Hey, somebody! Help! We need some help in here.” Alex yelled as she grabbed the ambu bag from Hannah's trembling hand. Mere seconds after Alex called out, Gibbs, Dr Taft, and Dylan ran in, though considering the situation, it felt like several hours had passed.

“You made it this far, you're almost at the finishing line. You can do this.” Ellie said, as she tried to think of every encouraging catchphrase she's ever heard in her life. At this point, she would have said any corny thing on this planet if it got Hannah to calm down and remain where she was.

“No, no. I just want to take it out and be done with it.”

“Hannah, won't be much longer.” Gibbs spoke softly.

“Remember, you're keeping him from bleeding out.” Dr Taft added.

“No!” She screamed “I’m 22 years old... I shouldn't even be here! I’ve only been working as a paramedic for three weeks. This has to be some kind of mistake.”

“She's panicking.” Dr Taft called out (as if it weren't the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, everyone deals with stressful situations differently so Ellie felt she couldn’t judge him for being such a Captain Obvious).

“We need to clear the room,” Dylan ordered. “You two need to step away.” He called out to Alex and Ellie.

“I'm not leaving,” Ellie replied. There was no way she could go. Even if she wanted to, this was her job, and she couldn't leave Hannah.

“Bishop, you need to get out of here,” Gibbs ordered

“I’m not leaving her.”

“You need to get everyone out of here, Agent Gibbs, now!” Dylan barked.

“These are my agents. I’m responsible for them,” Gibbs replied in an equally harsh tone to the bomb squad expert.

“Alex, go with Dylan. You go with Dylan.”

“Hannah look at me-” Ellie started before she was cut off.

“No. It's gotta come out.”

“Hannah”

“No, no.”

“Hannah, you need to calm down.”

“I can't.”

“You need to relax, Hannah. Everything's going to be fine.”

“No!”

“Hannah,” Gibbs called

“You can do this,” Eleanor whispered as she moved her hand even closer so she was right on top of Hannah's.

“It has to come out.”

“No, you keep it there. Just a little while longer.”

“I have to take it out! I have to! I have to!” She cried as she pulled her hand out.

As if it were a reflex, Ellie moved her hand into the body where Hannah's use to be. Everyone ducked down to the floor while the paramedic ran out of the room.

Hannahs bloody glove left smears of red all over every surface she touched. It made the room look like a horror movie, and it was oddly fitting. Ellie's heart beat rapidly as if she were a character in a horror movie, running away from the guy with a chainsaw. The blonde girl hardly ever survives to the end, she thought.

A couple of seconds later, when the expected explosion did not occur, Alex removed her hands from the back of her neck and lifted her head up from the ground. It was then when Eleanor released what she had done. She had stuck her hand inside of someone's chest and was now touching a bomb.

“Oh god, Ellie.” Alex muttered as she looked at Ellie. All the colour had drained from Alex's usually tan face. 

“What did I do? What did I do? What did I do?” Eleanor whispered to herself, trying to understand why she would do such an idiotic thing. Did she have a death wish?

“Stay where you are… Nobody move. Stay exactly where you are.” Dylan ordered as him and the others in the room slowly got up from the floor.  
They all stayed frozen for what felt like forever. It could've been a few seconds or even a few hours, Eleanor wasn't sure. Her entire perception of time vanished as she looked at the others in the room, all standing like statues. The only thing that reassured Ellie that they were still alive, was she could see their chests move. She watched them enlarge and retracts as the air entered then left their bodies.

With each moment that passed, Ellie could feel the adrenaline course through her veins as her heart rate increased. In an attempt to regulate her body and return her heartbeat to its resting rate, Ellie breathed in her nose and out of her mouth. While trying to gain control of her emotions, everyone else in the room were now being placed into protective gear. They all appeared as if they were part of the bomb squad, not including Dr Taft - his light blue surgical gown easily stood out.

As soon as they placed the doctor in his protective gear, he made his way towards the patient’s ambu bag, in order to pump oxygen for his patient.

Eleanor took a deep breath and closed her eyes before chanting the same question again: “What did I do? What did I do?”

Dylan soon moved towards Ellie to gently place a protective vest on her.

“You realize how stupid that was?” He asked her while fastening her in.

“It was incredibly stupid, El.” Alex sighed.

“Okay, you know when you don't need to be made fun of? When you've got your hand inside a body that has a bomb in it, and a stranger is velcro-ing a flak jacket to your boobs.” Ellie huffed, she felt like a moron already without Captain Jackass and Alex’s reassurance.

“You've got a sense of irony.” Dylan chuckled, making Ellie hate him even more.

“Only when things are really ironic,” she told him. “I had a feeling,” she continued, looking directly at Alex.

“What's that?” Dylan asked.

“Nothing.” Eleanor breathed out. It was bad enough having to spend time with him, let alone having him discover her pathetic personal life.

“Quinn, I want you out of here. Go upstairs and check in with the rest of the team,” Gibbs ordered.

As soon as she left, Eleanor felt tears brimming in her eyes.

“So you have a plan right? You have a way to get me out of this?” She pleaded towards her boss and the head of the bomb squad.

“Bishop, what were you thinking?” Gibbs asked.

“I-I-I don't know, I really don't. It's like one minute my hand was beside Hannah's and the next, it was inside of someone's chest,” she blurted out.

Gibbs didn't reply, but she didn't blame him. What could someone say in this situation?

Dylan left to go talk to one of the higher-ups on the hospital's staff, leaving her, Dr Taft, and Gibbs behind. The room was filled with tension, and not even the ever-chatty Dr Taft tried to talk to either of the remaining agents. He focused all of his attention on the ambu bag, while Gibbs paced around on the opposite side of the room.

As soon as Dylan entered the room, he and Gibbs convened at the door. The two talked in low, hushed tones, and they kept turning their heads back towards Ellie. As soon as she made eye contact with one of them, their eyes would divert off of her, before eventually falling back on her. Ellie let this happen for two more minutes before she erupted at the two. 

“Stop it! You're looking at me the way we look at someone when we’re about to tell them they're family member died. You have information that you're withholding so just tell me what's wrong?” She huffed.

“The main line of oxygen runs directly under this room,” Gibbs told her.

“Okay.” Ellie replied comprehending what he said, as the three men looked blankly at her, “Not okay… Well, I need one of you to tell me what this means exactly. Because I think I know what it means, but I tend to be ‘glass-half-empty’ these days. So I won't trust what I think it means. Because what I think it means is that if the bomb explodes over the oxygen line, the entire hospital would blow up. And that's just crazy, right?” She asked directing her question towards Gibbs.

“Ellie, all it means is that we have to move,” Dylan said.

“What?” Gibbs and Dr Taft simultaneously asked.

“That's right, we have to move… we have to move right now.” He repeated more as a reassurance to himself than anyone else.

“Wait, I'm not allowed to move my fingers on the fear of me shifting the ammo, and now you want to move the entire gurney.”

“It's our safest option.” Dylan confidently told her.

“So we move.” Gibbs agreed.

“It shouldn't be a problem, we can handle this. Uh, Ellie can you handle this?” Dr Taft asked. 

“Not like I have much of a choice, but Gibbs and Dr Taft, I want you a far distance away. That's the only way I'm agreeing to this.”

-

“You're doing great,” Dylan whispered as they steadily walked through the hospital hallway. It was weird, how quiet and empty the hospital was. Ellie has never seen it this way before, and boy has she been to her fair share of hospitals: first as an accident-prone kid with three older brothers; then it shifted to part of her job, going to various hospitals to interview a hospitalized victim, suspect, witness, or whatever.  
“I'm going to run through the logistics of everything now. The device is shaped like a rocket. It's about 8 inches long. And we’re going to have everything ready. Dr Taft’s team will be in place and my team is going to be ready. Then I'm going to ask you to take the hand that you have in Corporal Collins and wrap it around the device and pull it out. Level. Pull it out while keeping it level.” He told her.

Eleanor nodded before speaking, “I was raised to never say anything bad about someone to their face, but I don't like you very much.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Dylan reassured her. “Now everyone, one foot in front of the other. Slow and steady.” He addressed the team as they kept walking towards the new OR furthest from the oxygen line.

-

“We’re ready when you are, Eleanor.” Dr Taft addressed her in their new operating room.

“Yes.” She breathed out.

“I’m going to extend the wound. When I cut, the bleeding will intensify. In order to save Corporal Collins, you have to pull the ammo out immediately.”

“But remember, remove it while keeping it as level as possible. Nice and easy, no quick movements. Level.” Dylan added.

“Level, keep it level,” Ellie repeated.

“You ready?” Dr Taft asked.

“I, uh… do I have a choice?”

“You have to be ready.”

“Sure, I guess,” Ellie told him.

“Scalpel.”

“I guess I'm ready.” She whispered to herself, more than the men in the room.

Dr Taft picked up the scalpel and began cutting around the wound, making it bigger, just as he said he would.

“Alright, Ellie, wrap your hand around the nose cone.” Dylan instructed when no reply came after a few seconds he tried again, “Ellie.”

“Tell my parents and my brothers that I love them.” She told the two, sure she was about to die. Who actually survives after having their hand on a bomb?

“No, don't do this.” Dylan scolded her, but she didn't care, she had to be heard.

“Thank Gibbs for the amazing opportunities he gave me by hiring me, tell Abby and Alex they're the sisters I never had, tell McGee to freaking propose to Delilah already. And Torres… make sure Torres knows I appreciate everything he did. Make sure of it!”

“Ellie, his pressure is dropping.” Dr Taft butted in.

“I can't - this is crazy! You need to go. Both of you should go.” She yelled, feeling her heartbeat rise up again. This was her mistake, no one else should have to die because of what she did.

“Nobody's going to die today, Bishop.”

“Eleanor, I want you to look at me. Look at me!” Dylan ordered, “I know today has sucked, and I know I'm this ass who's been yelling at you all day. So you pretend I'm not. You pretend I'm someone you like. Whatever you need, but you need to listen to me. Okay?”

She looked back down at the operating table for one moment, unsure of who to imagine. Closing her eyes and looking back up to directly open them she saw Nick. In a way, it made sense. She had no significant other in her life, and Nick was the most calming person she encountered the entire day.

“I'm scared.”

“I know. You can do this.” (Imaginary) Nick smiled back. She felt as if she was back in the elevator ride from this morning. She trusted imaginary Nick as much as the real thing. “It'll be over in a second. You can do this, Ellie.”

“Okay,” she gasped.

“Okay,” Imaginary Nick replied. Right after his face was gone... and all she saw was Dylan.

Gently she wrapped her hand around the ammo, listening to Dylan's advice from earlier, she slowly, while keeping it level, took the device out of Collins' chest.

A tear trailed down her cheek as she lowered the device into Dylan's hand.

“You did good,” he told her as soon as her last finger was off the ammo.

Right away, Dr Taft went into action, trying to save the patient.

When Ellie looked up, towards Dylan, he was already halfway out the door.

After taking a second to catch her breath, Eleanor walked outside of the OR to see where the bomb squad was going. Dylan was already 5 feet away from the OR and as soon as Ellie was entirely in the hallway, the device exploded.

It was like a big crash, all the glass in the surrounding doors and windows brokers, pieces of the former walls were flying all around. And before Eleanor even had time to register what was happening she fell straight down. Her head connected with the linoleum floors twice before she passed out.  
-

Fluttering her eyes open, it took Eleanor a moment to register where she was. There was a constant beeping noise courtesy of her heart monitor. She was now dressed in a thin hospital gown as she laid in one of their beds, and Nick was passed out right beside her. The lower half of his body was sat in a chair beside her bed, but from part of his torso upwards, he was draped on the mattress. His right arm was bent and placed on her knee, while his left arm was on top of her ankles and his head was asleep on her calf. It was like a really weird hug, but she appreciated being held. It was an extra reassurance that she was safe again.

She couldn't help but stare at his face, noting that even in the harsh fluorescent lighting he looked good. Some people had all the luck. The lighting accentuated the dark circles under his eyes, but he still looked attractive (not that Ellie would ever admit that out loud). 

Gently, she caressed his face with her hand. It was so startlingly intimate, she rather loved it, though she knew she would never have the courage to do it if he was awake. 

As soon as she heard the door open, she pulled her hand back from his face. 

“Hey, Nick, I got that black coffee you wanted. Sorry, it took so long, the line was insane. Anyways since I'm here why don't you go home and get some res-” Abby rambled on until she noticed Ellie was awake. “Oh my god! Ellie, how are you? We were so-”

“Shh,” Ellie whispered with her index finger to her mouth, before pointing down at Nick, who stirred in his sleep, but didn’t wake up. She was grateful that Abby’s half-hysterical rambling hadn’t woken him up, appreciating the look of peace on his face. 

“We were all so worried,” Abby whispered this time. “Even Nick was freaked out. McGee told me that when Alex came up to tell them it was you with the bomb, he wanted to go down there and get to you.” The goth gently placed his coffee on a side table beside his chair.

“Really?” Ellie asked, shifting her eyes down to look back at Nick.

“Yes. I mean how can you blame him?”Abby asked as she pulled Ellie into a hug. “Speaking of, never do something so reckless ever again. I almost had a heart attack!” With each word Abby spoke, it felt as if the hug was getting tighter and tighter. 

“I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't mean to scare you guys,” Ellie gasped out, desperate for some oxygen. 

“I'm going to go let your doctors know you're awake, and let the rest of the team know,” Abby told her, as she finally let her out of the hug.

“Wait, Abby!” Ellie called out, causing the scientist to turn around. 

“Yes.” 

“H-how long has Nick been with me?” Ellie asked, then a second later realized she should clarify, “in this hospital room.” 

“Since they let us into your room yesterday afternoon.”

“Wait... yesterday?” If anything, Ellie had assumed today was actually yesterday. There were so many questions she wanted to ask: Did the explosion affect the surgery at all? Who found her? How did Nick stay in the hospital last night? Weren't there visiting hours? 

“Yep. You were knocked out cold for a while there... Scared all of us. Anyways, I'm going to go and let everyone know you're up.” Abby said as her eyes fell down to Ellie's hands. Without even realizing it, Ellie’s hands were resting on Nick again, her fingers carelessly running through his hair.

The opening and closing of the hospital door as Abby left jolted Nick awake. His right hand left her knee and moved towards the gun kept in his holster in a half-awake reflex. He quickly moved his head all around the room, looking to see who was there. When he noticed she was awake the seriousness was swept off his face. It was replaced by a look of relief.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” she greeted him with a wide grin.

“Hi.” He smiled back, and just like that, she knew everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this! If you have any requests please let me know :)


	3. The One With The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous requested: can you do a mini thing with ellick not sure what should be about but i enjoy reading your fics.
> 
> Since it is so close to Christmas I attempted to do a Christmas themed fic.
> 
> p.s. I have only taken Spanish class once when I was like 14 so I apologize if their are any mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To, Anonymous: I hope this is sort of what you wanted! 
> 
> Thanks to the tumblr torresandbishop for betaing.

If someone were to turn back time, go back to the previous day, and tell Eleanor Bishop what was going to occur over the next 14 hours of her life; she would have laughed in their face. What they would've said she would think of as preposterous, and it had to be a joke. A joke told by someone with a terrible sense of humour. 

There was no way, she would believe that her boyfriend of two years, Jake was going to dump her only an hour before her best friend, Abby's Christmas party. If anything, she was expecting for him to propose. Ever since the pair got back from visiting her family for thanksgiving, everyone - family, friends, and even herself included - were certain her Christmas gift from him would be a diamond ring. Instead, her "present" was him no longer being apart of her life.

(Oh god, now she's going to have to call her family and tell them she can go back home for Christmas as she won't be seeing Jakes parents now. _Note to self: call parents… eventually_ Ellie thought to herself) 

Unsure of what else to do, Ellie went to the party. Of course it was an ugly sweater party, and of course Jake and her decided on going with a couples sweater: both having one half of Rudolph on theirs. Eleanor thought it was quite fitting because her sweater was the back half of Rudolph, and boy did she feel like a horse's - or a reindeer's - ass. 

Ellie arrived an hour late, because she couldn't stop crying and had to keep on redoing her makeup. 

(If only it were Halloween she could have gotten away with black streaks of mascara running down her face.)

The guests at the party seemed to be a mixture of everyone Abby has ever met: there were her friends from the metal concerts she attends; a group of nuns that Ellie assumed were the ones on her bowling team; several other old people that only the lord knows how Abby met them (she was an old person magnet); and some of Abby's coworkers. Although the party was quite an eclectic assortment of people, no one appeared to be out of place. The only person that Ellie noticed was not fitting in was herself.

So like the true mature adult she is, Ellie turned straight to alcohol. 

The best part about alcohol is she can blame all of her actions on it. The bottle of spiked eggnog was the reason she made out with Abby's new 'mysterious' coworker, in said best friends coat closet. He was the only person she found that seemed to not quite fit in to the party, just like her. Plus, the alcohol made him look really cute in his ugly Christmas sweater, that she knew Abby knitted and then likely forced him to wear. And lastly, it was _clearly_ the alcohol that made her ask him if they could go back to his place. There was no way a sober Ellie Bishop, would ever ask a man she knew for less than 20 minutes that question. 

That's what she told herself, the next morning when she woke up naked in his bed. Gently, she lifted the duvet off of her body. It was bad enough being in this situation, the last thing Ellie need was to have the awkward morning after conversation. 

Her underwear was hung on a lampshade next to her side of the bed. She felt as if the black lace pair tauntingly starred at her and said _'I know what you did last night._ ' 

She wore the expensive matching set of lingerie as a surprise to Jake for after the party. Instead, Rick... (that was his name right?), was the one to tear them off her body with just his mouth. 

Just as she finished sliding her underwear back on, she heard his front door open. 

"Nicholas!" A loud, accented, and very feminine voice called. Of course he would end up having some hot foreign girlfriend.

As soon as the last syllable was called on his name Nick jumped out of bed like a rocket, while Eleanor stood in shock. A second later she threw her hands up to her bare chest, and everted her eyes upwards. All she had on was her thong, and she was the more dressed of the two. 

She could not believe this was actually happening. 

"Shit," he cussed out, "I need you to hide." He whispered to Eleanor as you slipped on a pair of boxers.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You have a girlfriend and you expect me to help you get away with cheating on her?" 

"No she's my-"

"Mijo, whose sujetador is this?" The voice called out. On one hand it felt good not to be the other woman, but on the other, Ellie was well aware that 'sujetador' meant bra. His mom was looking at her fucking padded bra. Perfect. 

"Your mom. Your mom is here and she has my bra. Oh my god." Why couldn't he have been a cheater? At least then she could truthfully tell the girl she had no clue he was in a relationship, and the two of them could team up against him. Instead she gets to be the “slut” who slept with that woman's son. Or she assumed something like that would happen, as Nick was probably a mama's boy. Who else would have their mother show up unannounced before 9 am on a Saturday? 

"Espera un segundo, mamá." Nick yelled to his mother, before whispering to Ellie: "I'm going to go take care of this." He threw her a grey sweater from one of his drawers, before he left the room to go to his mother.

Quickly she pulled the cotton sweater over her head. It was held together by small herringbone stitches, and where the threads were a bit loose on the arms told her it was a well loved garment. The sweater was just long enough to cover her butt as long as she didn't bend over. And it felt soft on her skins, as if he washed it with fabric softener, (or oh god, maybe his mom washed). 

By the time Nick made it towards his mom, she had already found Ellie's discarded sweatshirt and jeans. It was hard to listen to the conversation through the walls of his apartment, but she could hear the excitement in his mother's voice. Most of the talk was distorted, but the one word she clearly heard from the conversation was "novia," or as most folks in America call it: girlfriend. Fuck. 

Leave it to Ellie to not even be able to have a proper one night stand.

Unsure of what else to do she paced around his room. It was very bare, and had no personal effects around whatsoever. It was kind of like walking into a showroom, only if the showroom was staged by a person who had no sense of design; not because his furniture was distasteful or anything, but nothing was there other than the bare minimums. Not even one picture was hung on any of the walls in his room.

Ten minutes later Nick came barging into the room with a heap of her jeans, sneakers, socks, sweater, and of course right on top: her bra.

“Ok, my moms in the washroom right now, so now is your time to go.” He told Ellie as he ushered her out of his bedroom and towards the front door.

“Can't a girl put on her pants and tie up her shoes before you kick her out.” She huffed, awkwardly stuffing each of her legs into the pant holes, then jumping up to try quickly lift them up her body, all while she attempted to walk. She was truly a sight to be seen.

“Next time you go setting out for a one night stand I really suggest you choose better shoes next time. They were a bitch to come off and now they're a Bitch to put back on.” He advised her, as she crouched down to slide her feet into her chucks. 

“I wasn't looking for a one night stand last night.” 

“In that set of underwear, I doubt it.” He laughed for a moment as his eyes glazed over her now dressed body. Was he seriously doing a playback of last night, right in front of her? “I need you to take the shirt off.”

“What is it with you and trying to get me to walk out of your apartment half naked?”

“What? No, no, no. I need my shirt back,” he told her as he grabbed onto her right arm and held a fist full of the sweaters fabric, “you put on the pony ass sweater.” 

“First of all its Rudolph's ass, and-”

“I thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend, Mijo.” Nick's mom said. Her voice startled the pair and they jumped apart once they realized how close they were to each other.

“No mamá-” Nick tried, but his mother cut him off.

“Please. You expect me to believe you let a one night stand wear your father's sweater?” The short woman laughed.

“What, no? This isn't dads sweater.” 

“Nicholas don't lie. I know that's your father's sweater, I made that it myself.” She scolded her son, before turning towards Ellie, “Now dear, what's your name? Nicholas has been a stonewall for the past 20 minutes I've been trying to get information from him.” 

“M-my name is Eleanor, but all of my friends call me Ellie.” Ellie stuttered out still in shock at the situation she was in.

“It's so nice to meet you, Ellie. You can call me mamá.” The older woman gleefully said as she pulled her in for a hug. It was so tight and filled with excitement, the woman could probably beat Abby for the tightest hug.

“No, ma-”

“Silencio, Nicholas. You've been hiding this girl away from me for god knows how long. I get to hug my daughter-in-law.” 

The way she talked to Nick versus Ellie, were night and day. Both were the voice of a loving mother except Nick received the tough love side, while Ellie’s was filled with happiness and no worry. It reminded Ellie of her own mother when her and her brothers were growing up, and how quickly their mother could jump between scolding and loving. Ellie was already in deep with her fondness for Nick’s mother, add into the fact that Ellie was associating the woman with her own mother? She was screwed. If Nicks mom wanted them to get married right that second, Eleanor probably would do it just to appease her. 

“You're coming for Christmas dinner, right Ellie?” Mamá asked her.

“Ye-yeah.” Ellie stuttered out at the woman, who pulled her into another hug. 

Nick faced Ellie and she assumes her face matched his - one full of shock and disbelief as to what just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, come yell at me on my tumblr: ziva-david.
> 
> p.s. if any of you want a part two you'll have to comment and let me know ;)


	4. The One With The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a requested prompt from anonymous on tumblr: I've had a little Ellick scenario in my head for a while but Im not a writer so I thought a good writer might want to do something with it. ~So after a particualrly dangerous mission where Ellie put her life in danger (more than they all already were) she notices Nick has been weird with her, like snapping and staring when he thinks she's not looking so getting tired of it she decides to confront him. (Feat. a heated argument that stops abruptly when someone kisses the other. You choose who)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's currently 3:08 where I am and this is unbetaed, so if there are any mistakes I apologize and please let me know! Hope you guys like this, and sorry it went a bit different than the original prompt. I was feeling #emotional.

For the past week, Nick Torres had been the bane of Eleanor Bishops existence. Throughout their two years of working together he would always tease her, prank her, drive her crazy as their fellow team member, Timothy McGee would put it. Over the past seven days though, Nick had gone from a teammate who she deeply trusted and considered to be her friend, to a complete and total asshole. It baffled her mind as to why he did a complete 180 in his personality and how he treated her. 

They were investigating a murder of a petty officer, and as they looked further into the case they discovered the victims son was being bullied at his school and was going to bring a gun in hopes of killing his bullies. NCIS was the first law enforcement agency to arrive to the high school, so they took charge of the scene. All members of the major crimes response team: Gibbs, McGee, Torres, and herself entered the building, to end the situation. 

Ellie ended up being the one who found the petty officers son. Although she did not agree with what he was doing, as being someone who was once in his shoes she empathized with him. And Ellie did not want to go back to his home to inform his mother of another death in their family. She couldn't, that woman was broken enough as it is.

Ellie negotiated with him in a classroom full of students for hours. She told him how she herself had been in his position, how much his mother loved him, the fact that he had not shot anyone yet so his life was not over. He could get help, and she would help him.

Just as she was starting to calm him down, one of the students in the room decided to try and be the hero and tackle the shooter. Ellie was quickly able to diffuse the situation and no one got shot. After that the petty officers son’s movements became jerky and sporadic, Ellie knew the likelihood of a sniper, set up on the roof next to them, shooting him tripled. This caused Ellie to do the exact opposite of what was protocol and instead she followed her gut. She placed herself between him and the window to make it so the sniper no longer had a clear shot. No one was going to die there not on her watch.

Eventually, she convinced him to let everyone else out of the classroom. It was just them, and he finally decided to surrender. As he was handing Ellie his gun a sudden commotion went on outside and the gun just went off and she was flat down on the ground. 

The other agents barged into the room as soon as they heard the gun was shot. McGee and Gibbs arrested the student who immediately surrendered with his arms in the air. Torres was the one to run to her, he was the one that checked on her injuries and told her it hit her bullet proof vest. She was going to be okay. 

Ellie was given two days off to heal and recuperate. The next day when returned to work Nick had been a completely different person. It was like he had a lobotomy and that's what remained, or maybe he was kidnapped and replaced by an evil clone. Those were the only explanations Ellie could come up with no matter how irrational they seemed to be. One flaw in both options, although there were already many, was that his attitude only changed towards her. To every other Agent at NCIS he acted as his normal self and it irritated her to the point where she saw red. 

One minute he act like an overprotective brother, while the other he would turn into a snappy middle school girl. Whenever she contributed anything to their case he would always second guess and argue with whatever she said. She could barely stand to be in the same room as him anymore and was starting to thank the heavens that McGee switched desks after Tony left. Because she could not handle having to look across at Nick Torres for several hours a day. He was across the room from her and it was bad enough. Ellie wished that Alex Quinn still worked with them because in the previous formation of the desks in the squad room, Nick would face away from her. Instead, his desk faced hers and she got to deal with him staring at her all week. He thought he was being inconspicuous, but even when she wasn't looking she could feel his eyes on her. Before, she use to love all the glances he would throw her way, it was their way of silent communication. Now, Ellie felt like a weak prey, while Nick was the thirsty predator taunting her and never letting her know when he would attack. 

The final straw that broke the camel's back, or whatever equivalent idiom that could be used, was when he snapped at her in front while they were interviewing a witness. Not only was it disrespectful and inappropriate, it was just plain humiliating. 

Once the interview was complete, she took the car keys straight out of his hands. She let him drive earlier as a way to be nice and hopefully let him take the giant stick up his ass, and now she was pissed. On their drive back to the navy yard she probably broke at least five traffic laws while she drove.

“Jesus, Bishop! Will you slow down you're going to get us killed.” Nick yelled. 

“Will you shut up?” Ellie asked while slamming her foot on the breaks for the red light. The sudden jerk of the car caused Nick to slam into his seat, although it was satisfying to see that happen it did not alleviate any of the anger she felt. 

“Okay, seriously, what the hell?” He asked as he gripped the grab handle above the passenger door for balance. His knuckles turned white from how hard he held it

“You're actually asking me that question?” She seethed, as soon as the traffic light turned green her foot was back on the gas. “I need you to just shut up. It's bad enough being stuck in this car with you the least you can do is not speak me to me.” 

She was too mad to talk, what she needed was to just sit and think. If Ellie was forced to act she knew would revert back to her days as child and physical fist fights with her older brothers. 

The rest of the short car drive was silent, no radio played in the background, the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of both fuming agents. 

After the car was parked and went onto the elevator, Nick hit the stop button causing the aluminum box they were contained in to become stationary. 

“I should've taken the stairs” Ellie muttered to herself wishing she was anywhere but there. It was too small and compact she needed as much space between her and Torres as possible; like an entire ocean. 

“You ready to talk now?” Nick asked her calmly. She noticed his finger fidget like they always do when he is irritated. 

“No, but might as well do it anyways.” She replied in a voice filled with venom, as she turned perpendicular to the elevators so they would face one another. 

She took in one big breath and exhaled it before she started. 

“I'm sick and tired of you acting like some Neanderthalic misogynist towards me. What you did to me in front of that suspect was completely disrespectful.”

His eyebrows raised in a look of shock at her response.

“I'm a misogynist?” He repeated raising his eyebrow in shock. 

“You know what they say, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…” She smiled at him. It wasn't a genuine one, it was her stooping to his level on the asshole scale. Not that it's actually a quantifiable thing, but if it was, a picture of Nick’s face would be at the top level.

He laughed at her response, his mouth mirroring her fake smile. 

“I'm serious, Nick. The way you have been treating me is totally disrespectful. You snap at me for no reason, and you second guess every decision I make. And I've been trying to let it slide, hoping you would get your head out of your ass, but how you treated me today was the last straw. I'm done.” She seethed, stopping for a couple of moments to take a breathe and attempt to slow down her heart rate. “Look, I thought you were my friend, but you're obviously not. And that's okay, we don't have to be, we can just be coworkers. Where we are right now, I’m having a hard time trusting you. I can't depend on you when we’re in the field with the way you're acting.” 

“You’re having a hard time trusting me? That’s rich coming from you.” 

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“How am I supposed to trust your decisions when I know what you did at the school, Ellie?” His voice whimpered when he said her name. “Ellie, God, when I went into the classroom after the gun went off and I saw you on the floor - I… I thought you were dead. And every time I look at you now, I just see you lying on the ground of that classroom. I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting, but you're haunting me. Every night I have dreams of us at the school, but you don't make it.” He cracked at that admission. Nick, the guy who’s always standing, slide down the wall of the elevator and just sat on the shabby grey carpet. 

Ellie sat down beside him, she was still mad as hell, but she understood where he was coming from. 

“And I know it's no excuse for the way I've been acting, and I'm sorry I'll stop. I prom-” his speech was abruptly cut off by quick peck on the lip from Ellie. It ended as quickly as it started, his lips slowly following hers as she pulled away. “Huh?” Nick dumbfoundedly said.

“You've worked with Gibbs for two years and you still say sorry?” Ellie laughed, “I appreciate the sentiment though” She added giving him an actual smile as she stood up. “Look we work in hectic jobs, and we put our lives in each other's hands. I need to know that you can trust me.” 

“I do. I trust you, I promise.” Nick said as he got up from the floor. Ellie pushed the emergency button, so the elevator would start running again. 

“And Nick,” 

“Yeah?” 

The elevator door binged, signaling the doors were about to open. 

“If you ever act that way again, I will go Oklahoma on you, and kick your ass.” Ellie threatened before entering the squad room. 

“I don't doubt it for a second.” Nick whispered to himself with a smile on his face as he exited the elevator. 

(He wanted to ask her about the kiss and what it meant, but decided to wait until later. It was only a minute ago that she stopped wanting to kill him. He wasn't going to press his luck.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm back from the dead!! Just kidding, I can't really promise when I will be writing regularly because school takes up a lot of my time. I have gotten a few requests for part two of the christmas story (the previous chapter) and I started writing it during winter break. Currently I am at about 8,000 words (I think), but there is still SOOO much to write so please be patient. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this, and please come yell at me on my tumblr ziva-david


	5. The One With The Accidental Declaration of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous: for a short fic it could be like nick is crashing at gibbs place for whatever reason and bishop has to go into protective custody for whatever reason and gibbs leaves and then whatever happens happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I switched this idea up a little bit because I couldn't bring myself to writing them doing it in Gibbs' house. It's really short because I wrote it before work. Hope you guys enjoy.

“Nick what are you doing here?” Ellie gasped waking him up from his sleep on Gibbs’ lousy couch in the living room.

“I’m just hanging out, you know me and Gibbs are really tight. We uh… hangout at his home and uh… eat steak.” A groggy Nick replied, rubbing his eyes as he changed into a sitting position on the sofa. 

“You’re eating steak at 11:45 PM?” She questioned, not believing his terrible lie for a second. 

“We already ate it, B.” 

“Do you want to just save us some time and tell me the truth?” She asked giving him the stereotypical ‘mom stare’ while her arms were crossed together.

“There was a leak in my apartment so Gibbs is letting me crash here.” He finally admitted, shifting his eyes down towards his lap so he wouldn’t have to make eye contact. 

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve let you stay with me.” She asked, as she sat on the cushion beside him.

“I didn’t want you to feel imposed to let me stay since we started, well, you know?” He awkwardly admitted. They were too new, and he didn’t want her to feel forced or obligated to help him out. 

“Why would my boyfriend staying at my place be an imposition?” 

“Boyfriend?” He repeated, shocked at what she said. No definition or status had ever been discussed regarding their new relationship. 

“Yeah? You know he’s the guy that already stays overnight so much that he has a tooth brush in my bathroom.” Ellie replied as if she were discussing a rudimentary fact. When he didn’t verbalize a reply she continued. “Seriously Nick its not a big deal. Besides wouldn’t you rather be in my comfy and warm bed than this lousy couch? I’m pretty sure I feel one of the couch’s springs poking into my ass right now.”

“Are you sure it’s not an imposition?” He insecurely asked. This was a big step for Nick, he never really had any serious relationships and he didn’t know how to act. He was terrified of screwing up and driving her away.

“I promise. Now back up your stuff and let’s get out of here.” 

“What about Gibbs?” 

“Leave a note.” 

“Wait. Why are you here so late?” He asked final registering how weird it was that she was there.

“Dropping off this,” she lifted a paper plate with a cake on top of it, from the end table beside them “its my moms coffee cake. I was stress baking?”

“Why are you stressed?” 

“I feel bad for not telling him about us so I’m using this gift to ease my conscience.” She smiled.

“I’m stealing a slice before we go.” He told her, moving his hand towards the cake. 

“No you’re not!” She slapped his hand away, “I have some cake for you at the house.”

“I’m pretty sure I love you.” He blurted out. It took his mind a second to realize what he just said. When he did his mouth went wide, unsure how he could do a ‘take back.’ 

Sure he did love her, but you don’t say it this soon. Especially when less than five minutes prior he was too scared to even ask if he could stay at her place, afraid of rushing their relationship, and now he just randomly letting out “I love you’s?” 

“I’m pretty sure I love you too. Now come on let’s go home before we wake up Gibbs.” She gave him a quick peck before taking the cake to the kitchen. 

Nick released a breathe he didn’t even realize he was holding. It was like a 300 lbs weight was taken off of his shoulders. He couldn’t be happier with where he was in life, or the person he plans on being with for the rest of his days on Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally posted on my tumblr, ziva-david, on December 29, 2017. I never posted it here because I was unsure how I felt about it. I decided to post it here for those that don't have tumblr.


	6. The One With The Haunted House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Ellie meet at a haunted house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm back from my very long writers block hiatus. This a really small fic for Halloween and I apologize if parts are really ooc I'm still getting back into writing. 
> 
> Shoutout to Nika (captain-dwayne-pride on tumblr) for betaing this. Arguably I should have had her look at it one more time as I made some more revisons per her advice, but I'm so excited about finally writing something that i'm just posting it lol. if you do notice any mistakes please message me about them, and I hope you guys enjoy :)

Ellie’s heart rate was going erratically fast. She could feel each beat pounding like a drum in her ears. Sweat started to drip down her neck, and she swore she could hear some stereotypical horror movie soundtrack playing in the background. The rhythm slightly increasing with every step she took. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and the thrill she got every time she walked through a haunted house was the reason she loved them.

(Truthfully, Ellie loved them since her first time in one at the age of 8. Her parents finally believed she was mature enough to go explore one with her three older brothers. The haunted house delightfully frightened her. While George, Rob, and John ran out screaming, Ellie exited with a giant smile on her face. Which was something she reminded them of very often over the following years, which in turn earned her many noogies and wedgies.) 

The house she was in was one of the best she has ever seen, the lighting, the effects, the man running after her with a chainsaw… Ellie was in heaven. And very upset when the tour ended far too quickly. It was probably one of the quality over quantity things which she could respect. Especially as her heart was still rapidly beating as she exited the house. 

When she reached the last step off the porch of the house, and hand suddenly grabbed on to her shoulder. With epinephrine still running through her Ellie let out a scream, and threw her hands up fast. She collided with somebody in the dark. A distinct cracking noise came right after.

“HIJO DE PUTA!” A very loud, very masculine voice cursed out. 

Immediately, Ellie turned around to see a man, not much taller than her but very well built there. She could not get a good look at his face as it was covered by his hands, and the faint sight of red liquid seeped through them.

“Oh my God! Are you okay?” Ellie gasped, shocked at the sight in front of her. 

“Do I look okay?” He bit back in response. 

“Look, I’m sorry, but why did you grab my shoulder? Especially after something as crazy as that!” 

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone in. My grandmother was right about not messing with this sort of crap!” He quietly moaned out. His one hand went away from his face (which made the blood on his face even more visible) and grabbed something from his coat pocket, 

“Here, you dropped this on the way out and I was trying to give it back to you.” 

He dropped the object - her cellphone - into her hand. A bit of blood was smeared on the case, but that was the least of her worries. The guilt of breaking a good Samaritan's nose was the only thing she could think about.

“Thank you! But, uhh - come with me,” she ordered, grabbing the man by his (ridiculously muscular) arm. His leather jacket felt smooth to touch as she guided him towards the hot dog booth. Quickly, she grabbed a handful of napkins from the condiments station, and shoved them his way. “Let’s try to stop this bleeding.” 

Wordlessly he accepted the bunch of napkins and held them up to his bloody face. Ellie guided the two to an empty picnic table so she and the guy could sit down.

“Thanks, and I’m Nick by the way.” He eventually said after a few minutes had passed. 

Ellie had already given him a second handful of napkins to use. 

“Ellie,” she breathed out “I’m really sorry for breaking your nose and, and thank you for picking up my phone. Can I please take you to the hospital so the doctors can check you out?” 

“I-“ Nick couldn’t even get a word out before he was interrupted.

“No way, man. You asking her out resorted in her punching you?” A tall man with a British accent laughed out as he approached the two. 

“Wait what?” Ellie asked aloud as Nick started to groan out in what she assumed was frustration. 

“Hello, I’m Clayton.” The man smiled at her showing off all of his bright, pearly white teeth.

“Hi, I’m Ellie.” She replied out of formality, but was completely confused at what was occurring. Was she on some sort of prank show? 

“Pleasure.” He told her giving one last dazzling smile before turning toward Nick. “Man mate, you’re really out of luck. I mean Ellie, I know he’s hard to look at, but did you really have to punch him in the face?” He asked jokingly.

“I hate you.” Nick grumbled. His facial expression made it appear like he was in more physical pain at that moment than he did right after she hit him. 

“I mean, I guess I’m partially responsible. I did force Nick to go in there, but in my defense if your best mate was lamenting about how pretty the girl that was getting cotton candy was, you would’ve forced them to try and ask the girl out too.” 

“Shut up!” Nick begged his friend, cheeks blushing in a shade of embarrassment.

“Wait, did you steal my phone just so you could ask me out?” 

“What? No! I was going to ask you out and then I noticed your cell fall out of your back pocket.”

“I wonder what his eyes were doing there.” Clayton pondered aloud, earning a glare from Nick and a slight chuckle from Ellie. 

“Go away, Clay.” 

“C’mon mate, just trying to help.” He said with some puppy eyes at him. 

“Go!” 

“Fine, fine.” Clayton lifted his arms up in a surrendering type of motion.

When he was finally out range to hear anything, Ellie turned towards Nick. 

“Has the bleeding stopped?” 

Nick removed the napkins, and thankfully there was no more blood gushing out of his nose. Although, he was covered in blood this was the first time, Ellie could get a look at his face, and damn was he attractive (like worthy of getting a “woof” when you first see him attractive). 

“You know, you’re quite cute-“

“Don’t call a man cute in his time of need.” Nick pleaded, “Call me hot.”

“Fine. Despite your crooked nose you’re very hot, Nick.” She smiled at him.

“Wait, you ruined my perfectly symmetrical face?” He whined and Ellie giggled at him. For some reason she couldn’t help but find the entire thing amusing. 

“C’mon I’ll take you to the hospital and they can reset it.” Ellie got up from the picnic bench, extending a hand out towards Nick.

“Is this you asking me on a date?” He grabbed her hand and stood up.

“Sure, We’ll go with that.” Ellie laughed as she took them towards her car.

“Then this was totally worth it.” He grinned.


	7. The One With The Bad Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request by anonymous: Ellie/Nick comfort after a bad nightmare.
> 
> It takes place between the s14 finale and s15 opener when McGee and Gibbs are missing. I apologize if this seems unrealistic to anyone.

It had been over a month since Special Agents Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and Timothy McGee were taken hostage by a drug cartel during a rescue mission in Panama. Not a lot was known about where they were or even if they were alive. And nothing was harder than having to relay that information to Delilah, Tim’s pregnant wife. 

Since both the team leader, and the senior field agent were missing, Ellie fell next in the role of seniority. Now she was the team leader of just herself, Nick, and sometimes Clayton who was stationed at the international desk. 

It felt so peculiar giving orders, and being - job title wise - Gibbs. Ellie knew she wasn’t the only one affected by it. She felt it every time she went to Abby’s lab and saw the disappointment in the forensic scientist's eyes when she was relaying whatever evidence she found to Ellie instead of Gibbs. She brought her a Caf-Pow! every time she visited, but couldn’t bring herself to ask “What do you got, Abs?” 

Ellie received similar reactions in autopsy, and every other part of the building. No one could believe they were gone for so long, she even overheard two agents discussing a previous mission in Somalia. 

(“They have to be found, right? It’s like Somalia all over again.” 

“That was eight years ago, and NCIS didn’t have direct orders from the DOD to not investigate.”)

Apart of Ellie felt like she had the weight of the entire world on her shoulders, and the notion made her angry with herself. How could she throw a pity party, when God only knows what Gibbs and McGee were suffering through. Ellie saw the damage their mission caused every time she looked at Nick. He blamed himself for being in DC and getting out of Paraguay when Tim and Gibbs didn’t. 

Nick never out right told Ellie how he felt, however, his actions spoke volumes. His first day back to work, Nick wore all the standard gear. Ellie had to give a second, maybe even a third glance shocked to see him in an NCIS hat and jacket instead of some random baseball cap and bomber jacket. It looked good on him, but she did not say anything about it. 

As the team was not officially looking for McGee and Gibbs they were still assigned any other case that was placed in their jurisdiction. Nick and Ellie were currently solving the murder of a Petty Officer, but hit a brick wall with any progression in the investigation. The frustration from that case and not finding their missing agents hit them both quite hard. Around midnight Ellie decided to call it quits and start fresh in the morning. 

Nick mentioned going to the gym. Ellie advised against that, however, knew she would not change his mind. 

Ellie laid in her queen bed unable to sleep. Constantly she was tossing and turning, unable to get into a comfortable position. No matter how hard she tried her mind wouldn’t shut off. After her alarm clock flashed in bright red numbers 03:30 am Ellie gave up on the idea of sleeping and decided to head into work. 

To Ellie’s surprise when she arrived at the Navy Yard at 04:05, Nick was asleep at his desk. His feet were propped up on his desk and the rest of his body laid in the office chair he despised using. Although the entire office was dark, the moonlight shined through the windows and hit parts of Nick’s face. His under eyes were so big and dark, Ellie could see them all the way from her desk. She wanted to scold him for staying at work all night, however knew he desperately needs sleep. 

Twenty minutes into her sifting through the Petty Officer’s emails, Nick started to stir. The first noise she ignored. Her older brother, George, used to talk in his sleep - she was used to an unsettled sleeper. 

The second noise that escaped Nick’s mouth was a scream - something George never did back on the farm in Oklahoma. The next scream he made took Ellie out of her thoughts and she ran diagonally across the bullpen to his desk. His eyes were squinted tight together causing wrinkles to form on his forehead. His entire body was trembling and his right hand formed a fist. 

Gently, Ellie patted his arm. “Nick,” she whispered, “get up!” She patted him again, slightly harder that time. In less than a second, his reflexes kicked in because Nick was (somewhat) lucid and had his gun pointed directly at Ellie. 

“Woah, woah, woah, Nick, it’s me!” She yelled with her arms raised at her head. She wanted to appear as non-threatening as possible. “Nick, it’s Ellie.” 

The use of her name seemed to snap him out of his reverie, and he finally recognized where he was. His dark, tired eyes darted back and forth focusing on her and then the gun in his hands.

“Nick, put down the gun!” Her fellow agent followed the order and placed his sig on the desk. When he looked back up at her all Ellie could see was the pain, and quite possibly shame, that covered his face. “Good. Why don’t we have some floor time now?” 

“C’mon Bish-“ 

“It wasn’t a request.” 

The two sat Indian style (however, Ellie preferred the less popular term criss-cross applesauce) and leaned their backs on his desk. Neither said anything for a few minutes, she could tell he was having an internal conflict and wanted him to settle down. 

Eventually he decided to speak, “Look, Bishop, I’m sorry about before, but it was nothing.” 

“Really? I don’t consider a gun in my face as nothing.” She refuted back. “Nick, I know how hard this is, but-“ 

“Oh, so you were magically in Paraguay? You were invisible, right? That’s why i didn’t see you there.” 

“Nick!” 

“No! Don’t try and help, I don’t need it.” His breathing started to get heavy like it was becoming harder and harder to perform the basic task. “Do you know what it’s like to be on a chopper, and less than 50 feet below you are your own teammates. Left for dead.” He whimpered out.

Ellie pulled him into a hug. A deep hug that could probably rival one of Abby’s. She knew if Gibbs were in her position right now, he would go for a tough love approach, but for her, this felt like the only thing she could do. At first, he was hesitant to be this close to her, she could tell. After a few seconds, Nick relaxed into her touch and buried his head into her hair. 

“It should be me there. McGee has a wife, and a child on the way. And I know how much everyone loves Gibbs.” Nick told her as he sniffled back some tears “They should be here, Ellie. Not me.” 

“I’m glad you’re here.” She whispered into his ear. “I know I wasn’t there, and I can’t imagine what you went through, or what they are currently going through. But you and I both know that once Gibbs and McGee make up their minds there’s no going back. So if you were in Paraguay, then I would be here all by myself. And I know that sounds selfish, but I’m very grateful that you are with me, Nick.” 

They continued to hug for a couple of more seconds before she released Nick out of her hold. The two agents stood up and looked at each other. Ellie could see a slight presence of tears that escaped his eyes but knew better than to comment on them. 

“C’mon Nick, it’s almost 5 and it’s your turn to pay for coffee.”


	8. The One With The FWB

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a fic idea post 14x05. If you don't recall in that episode Torres said something about every girl wanting to settle down, after a comment Ellie made. Then my brain came up with this idea and enough people liked it that here we are

Eleanor Bishop walked into O'Connors Bar, a little past 11 o'clock at night. Her partner, Alex Quinn, had dropped her off at the Navy Yard as soon as they arrived back in Washington DC, saying she had "personal business" to attend to. 

Earlier when Eleanor took the main elevator up to the bullpen, all that was there to greet her was a baffled Senior Field Agent, Timothy McGee. He paced around the orange coloured room completely ignoring her presence. His eyebrows were knitted together, and three very prominent stress wrinkles covered his forehead. When she asked what was wrong all she got in response were some mumbles about a missing printer. 

McGee was so lost in his thoughts he even ignored her offer of her extra philly cheese steak, straight from Philadelphia. 

With none of her other friends in the building, and not quite being ready to go home, Ellie chose to end her night off at the hole in the wall bar right beside the navy yard.

As she entered the building, the first smell that permeated her nostrils was the mixture of beer and sweat. Definitely not one of the most attractive scents in the world, but it reminded her of going to bars with her brothers when she went home to visit. 

O'Connors was mostly dead this evening: a group of three men were huddled around a pool table, two others were throwing darts, she spotted a group of fellow agents she barely knew sitting at a booth, and 10 feet away from them sat three people at the bar. One of them being a fellow member of "Team Gibbs," Nick Torres. 

Nick sat by himself, head facing down. His positioning made it appear as if he were deep in thought. He stared at the whiskey in his tumbler resting on the bar countertop. Gently, he swished the amber liquid around making it go in circles. 

"Hey, mind if I sit with you?" Ellie asked to be polite but sat down on the wooden stool before he could reply. "Can I get a Corona, please?" She requested to the bartender in front of them.

"How was the drive back from Philly?" Nick asked, turning all his attention towards the blonde. 

"Not bad, well..." Eleanor started. She furrowed her eyebrows together as she attempted to fully articulate her thoughts before she spoke, "today, and hell, this entire case has been weird. First Alex's hatred toward the entire city of Philadelphia and her awkwardness in the car; then the actual turnout of the case; and when I went to the bullpen, McGee was acting like a madman uttering something about a printer. He completely ignored my offer to give him my extra cheesesteak." 

"He's still freaking out about the printer?" Nick chuckled, showing all his teeth as he smiled, "Wait - You have cheesesteak here?" Suddenly becoming very serious at the notion of food. 

"No." She replied while nodding her head up and down to blatantly show she was lying. 

"C'mon, give it to me." He pleaded, reaching his arms out towards her, trapping her by the bar.

“Nick, stop,” she giggled as she playfully swatted his arms away from her. 

 

“Please.” He begged, widening his eyes while forcing his lips into a frown. It reminded Ellie of the character Puss in Boots from the Shrek franchise, and how he would put on a soft innocent face before attacking people. Ellie would not have been surprised if Nick was using the same tactics and actually fought her for the sandwich.

"Nick, you can't eat food from one restaurant, while you're seated in another!" She scolded him, narrowing her eyes at him like her mother did to her and her brothers.

Oh god, she was becoming her mother. That notion made her want to chug her entire drink immediately.

"C'mon this place may serve food, but it's not a restaurant. Plus, they stop serving food at like 10." 

"It's the principle of it." She countered.

 

"Then let's call it a night here, and you give me the food."

“I just got here, and I'm only on my first drink.” She whined.

“Yeah, and you're already three quarters done. Chug it or don’t, either way, I'll buy it for the cheesesteak.”

"Fine.” She huffed, not wanting to call it a night and end up alone in her empty apartment. As soon as she agreed, her coworker broke into a victorious smile that made him look like the life of the party. It felt good to be the reason said smile graced his face, and now, she really didn't want to be alone tonight. It was totally because humans as a species are social being - and not because she particularly liked seeing Nick’s stupid, perfect, Colgate commercial worthy smile - that she decided to invite him over. Science was totally on her side. “I live less than 10 minutes away so we can go there. Plus I have a bottle of tequila we can split."

"Deal." He instantly replied.

"But there's one exception." She added, causing him to slightly cock his right eyebrow upwards out of curiosity.

"What is it?"

"You have to answer any question I ask." 

"Fine, ok, whatever, let's get out of this place." Nick rattled off as he grabbed his wallet from his back pocket and placed two twenties on the counter. 

At first as the duo made the relatively short walk back to her apartment, they were silent. Nick wasn’t much of a talker, and Ellie’s mind kept going back to their case.

“Are you okay, B?” Nick eventually asked, breaking the unspoken code of silence.

“Hmm?” She replied, turning her head to look at her new partner as they continued walking.

“I said ‘are you okay?’ Because you sort’ve just spaced out.” His tone was calm, yet the look in his eyes said something completely different.

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about the case and Clayton.”

“The MI6 guy? Are you two uh.. are you two a couple?” Nick asked, and for some reason, she couldn’t quite place his tone. In short time Ellie has known him she’s discovered Nick to be very auditory, often using his pitch and tone to emphasize whatever point he was trying to make. The tone he used in this instant though she had never heard prior to that moment.

“What?” She laughed out, “God no. Clayton’s like a brother.”

“Oh, cause McGee mentioned that you guys went on vacation together.” Nick prodded, obviously wanting an explanation. It seemed he was like everyone else at NCIS and loved to know about the personal lives of every other employee.

“Of course he did. He hates admitting it but McGee is such a gossip. And yes, we did meet up in Scotland, but it was 100% platonic.”

Nick was silent for a few seconds, as Ellie guided him across the street on their way to her house.

“You know if you think about it, I saved the case.” Nick proudly exclaimed, changing the topic. Ellie rolled her eyes. She was well aware it was Nick’s question about the missing bathroom that tipped them off about the dirty cop. She was not surprised at all to find out he liked to brag about his accomplishments.

“Yes, you’re right. You’re such a brilliant detective all hail king Nick!”

“King Nick.” He repeated, “I’m going to make everyone call me that from now on.”

“Good luck with that.” She smiled, still laughing as she imagined what Gibbs’ facial expression would be if Nick actually told people to call him that.

It was fun to hang out with Nick and experiences his antics, but her mind kept going back to the case. It bothered her to the core.

“Bish, what is it?” Nick asked concerned again. It appeared Ellie had no luck concealing her feelings.

“Still the same thing. I can’t imagine what Clay must be going through. Every day we put our lives in each other’s hands. I can’t imagine if you or anyone else on our team turned out to be dirty. I’d lose my mind.”

They finally arrived at her doorstep.

“I guess that’s the difference between undercover work. Often the guys that had my back in the worst situations were the ones that I was sent to take down.” Ellie didn’t say anything as she opened the door into her apartment. “So where’s the tequila?”

She grabbed the bottle, some shot glasses, her salt shaker, and a bag of limes she had for an upcoming girls night. His philly cheese steak was put on a plate which he started eating as she set everything up.

“Nick, promise me one thing.”

“Hmm?” He asked, his mouth was still chewing food but thankfully he kept his mouth closed when replying.

“You’ll always have my back. No matter what.” He shook his up and down, taking a second to swallow his food.

“Unless you kill my father and I have to pull an Inigo Montoya on you, you got a deal.”

“Cheers.” They simultaneously said, before downing their shots. Ellie finally registered what he previously said when the tequila burned at the back of her throat.

“Wait!” She yelled at Nick causing him to stop refilling their glasses.

“What?”

“You quoted The Princess Diaries!”

“What can I say, it was my sister’s favourite growing up.” He laughed. Nick’s lack of denial shocked her. On the job, he seemed to love the hyper-masculine image. Ellie assumed he would never openly admit to watching movies like that.

“Nick, how drunk are you?” She questioned, curious if the alcohol was the cause of Nick’s honesty.

“Just a little tipsy, still wanting more of a buzz.”

“Eat more of the philly before you take any more shots,” Ellie ordered. Although she assumed he could manage his liquor, she did not want to take any chances with him vomiting on her carpet.

“As you wish!” He breathed out before finishing the last half of the sandwich. His usage of the line made her annoyingly more attracted to Nick.

It was in that moment Ellie realized she needed to get back into the dating scene. She couldn’t seriously be thirsting after a coworker because he quoted a movie, right? Otherwise, she would be in love with Tony DiNozzo. She shook in disgust at that thought. Tony was basically another older brother, and that was just disgusting. That was another difference between Nick and all their other coworkers. Ellie felt some sort of familial bond with everyone, even Alex. Like the older sister she never had.

Nick, on the other hand, he was something completely different. Maybe it was because they didn’t know each other well enough. With Alex, she met her two and a half years at FLETC. Nick was a complete stranger until one month prior. However, with the thoughts that were racing through her mind about him, she wasn’t sure if she could ever place him into a brotherly category.

“Bishop, you’re spacing out on me again,” Nick called out, pulling her back in the present. The one where they sat on her living room floor and the only barrier between them were two glasses and a bottle of tequila.

“Nick, did you mean what you said earlier?”

“About having your back? Of course, I did.”

“No, I meant about how you think I want to settle down.”

“I thought we all made an agreement never to talk about that ever again.”

“Do you see me as a Suzy Homemaker type?” She prodded, completely ignoring his comment.

“Is this a trap? Because it’s starting to feel like a trap here.” Nick gulped, probably expecting Ellie to give him a speech on his ass-backward thoughts. Ellie should’ve gone there, except that was the last thing on her mind.

“I’m just confused is all.” She told him innocently.

“I.. I’m-“ he struggled to find his words. Apart of her wondered if she should offer to have this conversation in Spanish if that would make him more comfortable, but he was cute when he was stuttering. She wanted to save hearing him speak Spanish in her bedroom. “You’re the type of girl a guy would want to settle down with and start a family with.” He looked directly in her eyes before continuing. “I know that.. you’re uh a modern woman and all of that. But you seem like you were raised with the classic family values by your parents.”

Perhaps everything he just said was an attempt to blow smoke up her arse. However, there was a vulnerability in his voice that made her think he was being sincere. Honesty was a big this to Ellie, especially now due to the reasons behind her divorce. His response was the final encouragement she needed to continue on.

“Do you want to try an experiment?” Ellie asked in a tone that she hoped came across as suggestive.

“Where are you going with this?” His eyes followed her every move as she moved closer to him on the floor.

“I want to test your theory to see if all women want to settle down.”

“And how would we do that?” He gulped. Ellie noticed his eyes were dilating, which made her feel more confident. Her pulse was steadily increasing not believing what she was about to say next.

“You and I sleep together.”

“W-what?” His face falling into an ‘o’ shape for a brief second. Once the initial shock wore off, he seemed to become curious about her proposition.

“Well, it would be unethical to test two subject without their knowledge.”

“Yet two co-workers sleeping together would somehow be ethical? I know I’m new here, but doesn’t Gibbs have a rule against this?”

“It states that one may never date their coworker, and I have no interest in dating you.”

“But what if I’m right, and you fall madly in love and decide you want to settle down with me?”

“That's not going to happen.” She laughed out, very certain of herself. It occurred to her then that he might not want any of this and she was actually sexually harassing her colleague. “Torres, if you’re uncomfortable with this, I’ll stop. We can pretend this never happened.”

“No!” He quickly stammers out and grabbed a hold of her arm like he was afraid she would leave. “That’s not what I said.” His voice became much deeper than it was seconds prior. Nick looked Ellie up and down once more before continuing, “I just want to make sure we… go over all the possible outcomes of this experiment.”

“We get to have as much sex as we want.” Gently using her fingers to rub circles on his forearm. “I mean, as long as both of us are in the mood…”

“You really know how to ruin a moment, Bishop.” Clearly amused by her change of tone, and how serious she became.

“I’m just clarifying because you know consent is sexy.”

“Fair enough. Then do you consent to us starting right now?”

A wordless nod from Ellie was all it took for their arrangement to begin.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys, this is my first Ellick fic so please forgive me if you felt like the characterization is off. If you have any constructive criticism or just want to share your thought please do - I really like to know what people think. Also if you have any requests send them my way. 
> 
> P.S. I had more planned out for the story where Ellie was going to stand up for herself, but for some reason, I decided to write this 5 hours after I was in a car crash with a concussion and still in shock? Then after I was too lazy to write anymore, I posted it on my tumblr (ziva-david) at like 4:30 in the morning???


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